Timebound
by Shadowmage97
Summary: She really didn't expect him to take out his Susanoo and start shooting big-ass burning arrows at her.
1. Chapter 1

"Sometimes, Life might give second chances because maybe Time wasn't ready for the first one."

- Anonymous

Sakura was running. She leapt branch to branch, making sure to land lightly so as not to leave a trail for trackers. Running was all she seemed to be doing nowadays. She and Naruto where the last survivors of the once mighty Konohagakure. Narrowly avoiding a high branch, she swore. Damn Sasuke!

After Sasuke had learned the truth of the Uchiha massacre from Itachi, he had gone mad with anger. Setting out to destroy Konoha and everything Konoha represented was his new goal. Luckily Naruto, being Naruto, confronted him. Convincing Sasuke to calm down and that all the blame lay in Danzo and the elders, Naruto had managed to bring Sasuke home. Sakura had been so happy. Naruto was safe. Konoha was safe. And Sasuke was home. What else could go wrong? It turned out a lot could go wrong. Two weeks after Sasuke had returned, he killed the Anbu guard assigned to him and headed out to kill the elders. Their bodies were found the next morning and, God, the village had been in an uproar. Sasuke had disappeared once again, destroying the fragile hope Sakura had kept alive all these years.

Two years had passed with no sign of Sasuke and the people of Konoha had begun to relax, letting their guard down. That had been their downfall. In retrospect, they should have seen this coming. Sasuke had always been spiteful and arrogant, one slight against him and he'd hold it against you until he got his revenge.. They should have known he was just biding his time, waiting for the right moment to strike. And strike he did. He and hundreds of Oto nin struck so suddenly, that the civilian population of Konoha was nearly wiped out in that one attack. Remaining survivors were sent to neighboring villages while Konoha prepared for war. The blow to Konohagakure ninja ranks was so devastating that Konoha would have fallen immediately if not for the alliances between Suna and Kumo.

Otogakure was an intimidating village though in actuality it was not a village but a large underground laboratory, created by Orochimaru, composing of various bases scattered throughout the Land of Sound. They truly took the term "Hidden Village" to a literal level. Because the village was so well hidden and its bases were spread out through most of the countries, Oto had the upper end of the war despite the sheer number of opposition they were facing. Kumo had been forced to retract forces to deal with the threat they were facing and Sakura couldn't blame them; Konoha was practically gone.

With only a small amount of Shinobi left, including, miraculously, the _entire_ Rookie nine, Konoha nin left to join Suna in the war.

That was when disaster struck. Sasuke would not stop until every single thing related in anyway to Konoha was destroyed. The Land of Fire was decimated to smoldering plains, its large trees and once abundant plant life destroyed. Soon Sasuke had come after the left over Konoha shinobi determined to get rid of every last one. With all the tailed beasts except Kurama in his thrall, the revenge filled man began destroying everything in his path. Opposition was quickly decimated. Sakura still remembered the horror of seeing the bodies of her friends, family, even slight acquaintances. Suna soon followed Konoha.

Death was everywhere and Sakura was sometimes surprised how used to it she had become. There was once time when she had been squeamish at the sight of a drop of blood. That seemed so long ago it was a distant, foggy memory.

She and Naruto had separated a few miles back to distract their pursuers. The hunter nin had separated into two groups; one after Naruto and one after Sakura.

Divide and conquer or at least that was what they believed. Sakura was leading her pursuers straight into a trap she had placed earlier.

Really, though, hunter nin from Mist village should know better to take on a Konoha nin in her own environment.

Spotting an abnormally tall tree she leapt on it and run to the top of the tree. The trap had begun. As the nin came into view, she slowly began to weave her Genjutsu. After years of dealing with mad/crazy, bent on revenge Uchiha (Itachi, Madara, and Sasuke) she had become proficient at dispelling and making Genjutsu, though medical ninjutsu was still her area of expertise. She had become one of the best Genjutsu users, pretty much only the sharingan could see through her Genjutsu.

Sure enough the recipients of her illusion were soon fighting each other, each thinking the other was the enemy, seemingly unaware that a Genjutsu had been cast upon them. She began to slip quietly away to find Naruto when a loud, thunderous crash sounded through the forest. A large ominous dark red energy could be seen to the north. Sakura began to run. There was only one person with that type of energy. Naruto.

When Sakura arrived at the general area where she had seen the energy come from, she arrived at a large plain of burnt ground. Carefully hiding in a tree at the outskirts of the area, she saw Sasuke and his army facing a large pedestal. To her horror she realized Naruto was chained to it. Sasuke seemed to be in the process of dragging the Kyuubi out using the Tsukuyomi.

She frowned. She had to do something but what? She couldn't take both Sasuke and his army. What she needed was a way to get to Naruto and release him from the chains. Quickly forming three solid clones she henged them into various shinobi she had seen before sending them out to attack Sasuke.

With Sasuke distracted she managed to sneak around the army, disguising her chakra, and manage to get to Naruto. Sakura eyed the large chains. She'd need her Chakra blade for this. She effortlessly made a large blade of chakra, extending from her hand, which easily cut the chains. Catching Naruto as he fell and placing him on her back, Sakura began to run.

Naruto blinked his eyes blearily, "Sakura-chan. Stop. Leave me behind."

"Shut up, Naruto."

"No, you can't run with my weight. Save yourself."

Sakura nearly growled. "Shut up. Don't you remember the lesson Kakashi-sensei taught us. Those who break the rules are scum but those who abandon their friends are worse than scum. I'm not going to abandon you, Naruto."

She felt, rather than saw, him smile.

"Love you too, Sakura-chan. I knew you'd come around eventually."

"Not like that, you idiot!" She shouted though she knew he was joking. Naruto and a certain Hyuuga Heiress had hit it off once Naruto had managed to get his head out of his ass long enough to notice how much Hinata adored him.

A large booming sound came from behind them and it didn't sound that far away. She picked her pace.

"Sakura-chan, they took Kurama from me." Sakura would have stopped right where she was if it weren't for the crazy as hell ninja coming after her.

"What! How are you still alive?"

"They were in the process of taking him. You came just in time to stop them from taking Kurama."

"Oh, thank God." Her relief was palpable. Naruto was still alive and he still had a chance of living.

"No, Sakura-chan. It's too late. They damaged the seal badly. Kurama's chakra is overwhelming mine. I'm dying."

"No. No!" Sakura's emotions were out of control and this was too much. "Please, Naruto, you _can't_ leave me."

"Sakura-chan put me down here." Naruto ordered. She obeyed without a second thought, her mind trying to wrap around the fact that her closest and now only friend would be leaving her all alone.

"Listen to me, Sakura-chan. I am going to die. There is nothing you can do."

"Naruto!"

"No, Sakura-chan, _listen to me. _I'm going to do something. Do you understand? I'm going to fix everything."

"Naruto, what are you talking about?" Sakura was worried. Naruto had begun to mutter and whisper to himself. His movements were sluggish and slow. Most likely from blood loss. Dammit! She didn't have any of her medical supplies, the best she could do was staunch his wounds with a piece of cloth. Moving out of her grasp, Naruto, still muttering to himself, lifted his shirt showing his seal. Before she could stop him he grasped his seal and twisted opening the seal.

"Naruto, Stop!" Sakura moved toward him only to be stopped by the Kyuubi's chakra that was slowly consuming Naruto.

"Sakura-chan, I'm going to send you back. I want you to change everything. Save everybody."

"Naruto. I want you to calm down and get rid of the chakra. I'm going to try to heal you. I think I have enough chakra sealed in my yin seal."

_"Listen to me." _Naruto's voice had changed, becoming more guttural and animal-like.

"Naru-" Before she could finish her sentence, a loud crash coming from their right interrupted her.

Sasuke stood before them, red sharingan eyes flashing. _Team 7 reunited again_, Sakura thought bitterly. Naruto had gone silent his eyes open but unseeing. She assumed he had gone into his mind to talk to the Kyuubi. He was vulnerable in this state and Sasuke was out for his blood. She had no choice but to fight. Sasuke stared her, sharingan spinning.

"Move out of the way, Sakura."

"No, if you want Naruto you'll have to go through me." Sakura said as she pulled on her gloves.

"Hn, still as weak as ever."

Anger surged in her eyes and Sakura immediately disposed of any sympathy, kinship, and friendship she may have had for him. This monster standing in front of her didn't deserve anything from her.

"Shut-up and fight, bastard!" She lunged forward intending to strike him under his jaw. At the last minute she switched attacks, instead sending her right leg to kick him in the stomach. Sasuke dodged, the attack just barely missing him.

She sent a couple of her shadow clones, imbued with enough of her chakra that Sasuke would have a hard time telling which one was really her, since clones don't have chakra and normally people wouldn't waste chakra like that, he'd be unsure. Sakura catapulted herself away and assessed the move. She may have missed but that had been a test move. The sharingan could predict moves by seeing the slightest muscle tension. Because Sasuke had seen her gather a vast amount of chakra in her arm, he had assumed that her attack was most definitely coming from her arms. Focusing on her arms, he didn't notice her discretely pumping her leg with enough chakra to demolish a concrete and steel building. Which was why her hit had come very close to him. The only problem now was that he would probably expect a move similar to that.

Except...

Her eyes lit up. He wouldn't expect her chakra blade. Her chakra blade was purely chakra she used as a weapon. Expulsing it form her arm like a weapon, it could demolish the earth and slice through the human body very easily. She had developed it over the years. It had, at first, started out very short similar to a small dagger, but was now about three feet long.

Glancing at Sasuke, Sakura noticed him dispatching the last of her shadow clones. She'd only have a chance for one hit. She couldn't mess this up. Making the seals for a single shadow clone, also filled with enough chakra that it would be hard to tell which was really her. Sakura and the clone leapt to the ground in front of Sasuke. He glared at her. He had wasted time fighting her clones.

"What did you do? It's impossible to fool the sharingan."

"That's my secret, asshole." Both Sakuras leapt, simultaneously punching, kicking, kunai flying. Of course Sasuke managed to avoid most of the hits but because he was unable to watch both Sakuras at the same time, and a few of the hits landed. As she and the clone continued to hit and kick, Sakura prepared to release her chakra blade. At the last moment a punch from her that Sasuke was going to avoid suddenly turned into a large blade of chakra, startling Sasuke. The blade nicked his side. Sakura leapt away, narrowly avoiding a blow from Sasuke's katana. The cut looked shallow but Sakura knew that her blade had damaged important internal organs form that slight hit. The blades could cut easily but even with a small cut Sakura could send a charge of chakra down her blade and into her opponent, damaging the opponents body. The technique was one of her true treasures.

To the normal ninja eye Sasuke looked unharmed and normal but to her trained medic eye Sasuke was discretely favoring his right side of his body, putting most of his weight on it. He was also glaring at her from his perch on a branch. She could tell he was assessing her more carefully now. Before he had dismissed her as inconsequential but he underestimated her desire to protect Naruto.

She only needed one more hit and he was done.

What she didn't expect was for him to pull out his Susanoo and start shooting big-ass burning arrows toward her. Barely managing to dodge, Sakura jumped out of the way only to be captured in the large skeleton's hand. And be assured, dear readers, that being captured in a large chakra-covered, skeletal hand was not pleasant. Not at all. Sakura struggled in the skeletal grip, trying to find a way out but to no avail. Slumping forward slightly she glared at Sasuke who looked at her with apathetic red eyes.

"Prepare yourself, Sakura."

"Shut up! Don't call me by my given name, you asshole" she hissed.

He smirked.

"What are you going about it, _Sa-ku-ra_."

She glared at him than smirked triumphantly. She wasn't going down without a fight. Even if she couldn't move. She had years worth of insults for him, pent up inside of her. And he had always had a brother complex.

"Really, Sasuke. No wonder you always had to work hard to catch up to your brother. You're pathetic."

The smirk fell from his face and his eyes glinted madly.

"Shut up! You don't know anything about my brother. You don't know anything!"

She snorted, "Please you don't deserve your brother. Look at you. Your brother wanted you to be a hero. You say you're avenging him but instead you're throwing his sacrifice away like it didn't matter."

"Shut up! Shut up. Shut up. Shut up. _Shut up!" _

Well, Sakura thought, it was official he'd finally snapped. Ironically this may have been the most she had ever heard him say.

She was already having trouble breathing as the skeletal hand squeezed her body. Her vision darkened slightly.

God, why was she so weak. She couldn't protect Naruto like he always protected her. Sure, she had improved vastly from when she was a gennin but she'd always be behind Naruto and Sasuke.

As she started to drift in and out of conscious flicker, she noticed a large amount of dark red chakra appear suddenly in her peripheral vision. Naruto. What was he doing? She heard a faint crash and boom and the pressure on her body disappeared.

The last thing she heard before darkness enveloped her was Naruto.

"Change everything, Sakura-chan!

I_'ve decided to take a short break from my first story __Transmigration__ and start this one. The idea has been going around in my head for a few days now._

_R&R please. And there obviously no pairings in the story this early but there probably will be. If you have any suggestions tell me._

_ShaSha_


	2. Chapter 2

"_These days tired isn't even a temporary state for me anymore. Its become part of my personality."_

_Unknown_

Sakura woke up and... realized she wasn't aching anywhere. In fact she felt amazingly refreshed. Now, usually she'd embrace this as well-needed change, being on the run gave you no time to relax, but the fact remained that she'd nearly been crushed by Sasuke's Susanoo.

Sasuke. That ass-hole. She wanted to wring his neck every time she thought about him. An obviously large change from their a gennin days.

Ah, well. She needed to find out where she was first and then find Naruto.

Sakura opened her eyes but instead of seeing trees she was greeted by pink. Everywhere. She was in an oddly familiar bedroom. Actually, this looked like her childhood bedroom. The one she'd had before she moved out to her own apartment.

What in the hell was going on? Perhaps Sasuke had pulled her into his Tsukuyomi and was trying to torture her. Though she had no idea how putting her in her old childhood bedroom and making her feel as if she'd waken up from three week nap was torturing.

No, the theory was improbable. Sasuke didn't know what her bedroom had looked like. And even if he did the Tsukuyomi couldn't have made the illusion this detailed, especially since he had never been in her room (much to the disappointment of her younger self). Something else was going on.

Realizing she had been lying on the bed with her eyes wide open like some sort fool, Sakura sat up to get out of bed. And promptly fell down. She frowned. It felt like her balance was off.

Standing up again, more slowly this time, she reached up to push a strand of her long hair behind her ear.

Wait. Long hair? She'd cut her hair short during the chunnin exams and had kept it that way since.

Looking down at herself, she gasped. Where the fuck where her breasts?! She had always been slender and petite (at least in her description. Ino sometimes described her as flat and short, an opinion she wholeheartedly disagreed with) but not _this_ small.

No wonder her balance was off. Her whole body was off. She was shorter and smaller than what she was used to.

"Sakura!" She startled, the yell pulling out of her shock. Only to further increase her it.. The voice was her mother's. Her mother who had died in the first invasion. Her mother whose funeral she had planned and attended.

"Sakura? Come downstairs already. You have school in fifteen minutes!"

_School!? _What was happening? Was she really younger again? Sakura tried to recollect the moments after she had been captured by Sasuke. Because the Susanoo's hand was squeezing her, her observations of her surrounding area had been vague and unfocused. But she remembered Naruto getting up and saying Kyuubi's chakra had been flickering in and out of her field of vision. He had ordered her to change everything.

And before that!

When she had been carrying him on her back, he had muttered on about doing something and he had said _I'm going to send you back. I want you to change everything. _But she'd thought he had been hallucinating since he had lost a lot of blood.

Was this what he had meant? Had Naruto somehow managed to send her back in time?

All the clues pointed at that conclusion but she couldn't be sure. Sakura had sinking feeling that Sasuke was mixed in the situation some way. She couldn't do anything without further basis on where and when she was so she would act as the current time period she was in dictated. From what she could tell she was twelve again. Her old red quipao dress were hanging of her doorknob courtesy of her mother.

Sakura wrinkled her nose in distaste. She needed to find a new outfit quick. Her tastes had been odd back then.

After trying to get up again and failing, Sakura decided that to day she'd stay in. This way she could reconnaissance to find out exactly _when_ she was. If that made any sense.

Crawling back onto her bed, she waited for her mother to come check up on her.

Five minutes later a knock sounded on her door, her mother opening it enough to poke her head in.

"Sakura? Are you alright?" Sakura inwardly winced. The last time she had seen her mother, the woman had been deathly still, no longer the strong, vibrant woman Sakura had known her to be.

Sakura shook her head to get rid of the morbid thoughts. That didn't matter now, Naruto had given them another chance and this time she wouldn't let her mother or anyone else die prematurely.

Mebuki, believing the head-shake was the answer to her question, opened the door wider and walked in with a worried expression on her face. Placing her hand on Sakura's head, she frowned.

"You _do_ feel, rather hot."

Sakura hid her smile. It seemed childish but she missed the feeling of being pampered like this.

Her smile disappeared as soon as Mebuki left the room and came back with an armload of blankets.

Tucking Sakura in so firmly that she could only move her feet, Mebuki stood up and informed the woman turned child that she would be going to work and would be back at her regular time and that under no circumstances was Sakura allowed to leave the house. Then the slightly older woman promptly left the room to get ready for work.

Waiting for her mother to leave, Sakura began to feel warm and drowsy from the amount of blankets covering her. She soon fell into an uneasy sleep.

Waking up hours later, Sakura struggled out of her cocoon of blankets she was wrapped in.

Feeling much more comfortable with the younger version of her body that she was now in, Sakura carefully made her way to the kitchen. Everything in the house was as she'd remembered. The entire situation was surreal.

Sakura decided that she needed to check on her skills. She needed to assess what level she was at now so that she could improve even quicker. Grabbing a glass of water and an apple, she headed back to her room.

Stretching to warm up her muscles, Sakura began to form basic Taijutsu katas. To her horror her body had begun to tire after only two hours. She knew she had greatly lacking in the physical department at this age but this was absolutely horrifying.

How had she even survived to make it past gennin? She should have been a bloody smear on the ground at the tender age of twelve.

Giving up on assessing her meager physical skills, Sakura sat down in lotus position and began concentrating on her chakra. When she had been young she had had amazing control but a pitifully small chakra level so she expected a lot of hours put in to improving in this particular area as well. To her astonishment her chakra felt the same as it did before she had been sent careening through time. She didn't even need to further probe her chakra.

The level was Jounin maybe advanced Jounin. She smiled broadly. Hah! That was one aspect she didn't need to worry about. What a relief!

Though, it was odd that she kept her old chakra levels. Had Naruto done this on purpose? She suspected that he has used a seal that they had found years ago in the ruins of the Whirlpool country. There was no other explanation.

The seal was described itself as a time-travel seal but because of its vague, sketchy, and highly complicated details and because it required a large, inhumane amount of chakra, she had dismissed it as unusable and risky. Naruto had agreed but had kept the scroll in case it fell into the wrong hands.

He had been the sealing master after Jiraiya so the complicated sealing jargon had made sense to him in a way it couldn't for Sakura, who had only the basics of sealing down.

Naruto must have used the last of his chakra and the Kyuubi's chakra on the seal.

Her heart clenched at the fate of her best friend. Sakura wouldn't let anything happen to him in this time-line. Sai and Kakashi as well.

This time _she _would be the one to take care of her boys.

Sakura shook her head to clear the thoughts. She'd have time to plan later, first she had make sure if she really was in the past.

She did believe she it to be true, but as a ninja she had been trained to always make sure her facts were correct. The chakra situation was good. Now she could rest her doubts about her location.

Standing up, she went to grab a large sweater from the back of her closet and a small backpack with the little ninja supplies her twelve year-old self had possessed, She'd need the sweater for where she was going. The climate was rather cold for humans, most likely because of the high altitude.

During the few years she had been on the run with Naruto, she had come upon the summoning contract for Bird Summons and had signed it. She had made many good friends and was determined to rekindle the friendships. And she needed a certain old geezer's input on her situation

Sakura obviously wasn't contracted to them _yet, _but when she formed the hand signs for a summoning she would be transported there because when a person formed a summoning hand signs for an animal that they weren't contracted to, they would be summoned to said animal's kingdom instead.

She stood at the center of her room and performed the hand signs: Boar, Dog, Bird, Monkey, Ram!

The floor of her bedroom disappeared and Sakura fell. The wind rushed by her, blinding her slightly. There seemed to be no bottom in sight.

Suddenly, she abruptly stopped free-falling, giant claws grabbing her shoulders. Sakura was carried away, seemingly to the west.

She was unworried about the Bird carrying her, it was most likely one of the sentry guards that flew around the kingdom.

Soon large, floating islands were peeking out from the clouds. Each island appeared to be large, green and flattened at the top. Sakura knew that many nests resided on each island. Each Island belonged to a Bird tribe. There were six tribes in total. The Rocs, Owls, Ravens, Hawks, Phoenixes and the Eagles.

The island nests surrounded an even larger island in a circle. The Main Land, Sakura knew, was called Al-Reeh. It was where the King and Queen lived and also were meetings were held.

The king and Queen were not in any tribe because their job was to keep peace between the tribes.

In other words the tribes often argued amongst themselves like squabbling children and The king and queen were the "parents".

The Bird carrying her neared the ring of floating islands, then flew right past them, towards Al-Reeh.

Dropping her down near the edge of the island where the entry gate was, the Bird landed next to her changing into its human form.

A tall bearded man stood in front of Sakura. She frowned. He looked awfully familiar.

"You know you kind of look like Tsubasa." He stiffened.

"How do you know of my brother, human?"

"Brother? Oh! You must be Tobu! Wow! I didn't expect to see you here! And don't worry, I'll explain everything as soon as I see Tsubasa and Hikari-chan."

The man looked at her as if she was crazy.

She inwardly grinned. Tobu was as fun to annoy as his brother was.

He glared at her. "Speak up now girl. You are in our lands. Anything can happen to you here." He grinned bloodthirstily. "and no-one would know."

"Ah, but what if I have vital information to tell you? What will happen then? And I won't speak until I see Tsubasa and Hikari-chan."

The man towered over her. "How did you come to address the King and Queen so familiarly?"

"Oh, we're good friends. Or at least we were. Will be. Argh! Stupid time travel tenses! Just take me to to the glade. I promise I'll explain everything."

"Human! you have no right to command me. I can tear you to pieces easily. I advise you to speak soon."

Sakura remembered that because she had been a treasured friend to the Birds in the future, she had been given the mark of Saheeb. The mark indicated that she was friend to all the Birds. It was tied to the receiver's chakra and would never fade. If the friendship was betrayed, the mark would darken.

To Bird-man's astonishment, Sakura pulled at her large sweater to check on her shoulder.

"What are you doing, gir- Thats impossible! How can _you_ bear the mark of Saheeb?" He said this in such an incredulous tone that Sakura was offended.

"Excuse me! What exactly is wrong with me?!" He sputtered incoherently.

Sakura rolled her eyes.

"Never mind we're wasting time. You've seen that the mark hasn't darkened, proving that I am not an enemy, so take me to Tsubasa, please."

He turned without a word, motioning for her to follow him.

The pair passed through the entry gates, heading toward the middle of the island. They soon neared the gathering area. It seemed like, Tobu had already sent ahead the news. Either that or Myoga was behind this. Knowing him, he probably knew why she was here. Hell, he probably knew that she'd come here before she knew.

She shook her head ruefully. Sakura had missed the old Bird-man and his mischievous personality. The seer had wormed his way into her heart with his grandfatherly personality and sense of humor. He was easily someone she could get along with. It helped that he was the main advisor and held a great deal of authority as well.

She and Tobu entered the large arena. The place was an intimidating sight. The arena was a large plain surrounded by huge trees. Birds flocked the branches, surrounding her, whispering and talking amongst each other. It didn't help that many of the Birds were amazingly large. Much larger than a normal bird.

If she hadn't already gone through this when she had first signed the Bird summoning contract, she would have been pissing her pants by now.

An extraordinary large snowy Owl stood directly in front of her with smaller barn Owl next to him.

She grinned and pulled a Naruto-esque move."Hey Tsubasa, Hikari-chan! How are you guys?"

Once upon a time, she would have been much more formal and polite but Naruto had definitely rubbed off on her. That and she secretly loved the stir she was causing among the Birds. They were all nosy busybodies.

As Sakura had spoken, The Birds had fallen into a stunned silence, most likely at her casual address of the King and Queen. And as soon as she had finished, they had burst into a cacophony of loud whispers and ruffling feathers, whispering amongst themselves.

She could tell that the King and Queen were surprised as well though they did a better job of hiding it.

"Silence!" Tsubasa's loud, commanding voice impressively silenced everyone at once.

He then turned his head toward her. "How do you know of our names, child? You speak as if you know us and my brother tells me you bear the mark of Saheeb."

Sakura was sure that the Birds would have started talking again if not for the firm glare Tobu had given the crowd.

"Well, its because I _do _know at least I did or will know you."

She was met with blank unamused stares.

A ravaged looking Bird with only one eye and a large scar across his face, spoke harshly. "She plays tricks on us, thinking to deceive us! I say we kill her and save ourselves the trouble."

Considering the amount of agreements the other Birds made, Sakura decided it would be best to ask for Myoga.

"Tsubasa, Myoga can explain everything. Because I'm not the best at explaining a situatioon as confusing as this."

The large Owl stared at her with large, golden, unblinking eyes. "Very, well. Toru. Call for Myoga."

A large Hawk flew off standing behind the king. Sakura startled. She hadn't seen him. Damn, she was off her game. What kind of ninja wouldn't notice him?

As Sakura waited, she noticed the smaller barn Owl, seemed to be fidgeting, her feathers ruffling impatiently. Sakura grinned, knowing Hikari she was extremely curious about the newcomer who claimed she knew her. Hikari didn't have the same patience Tsubasa had.

Gasps and murmurs erupted when Toru arrived with a familiar old wise Owl in tow. Sakura knew it was due to the fact that he was flying.

Hmph. The old geezer had probably seen a vision of her giving him a healing salve to fix his wings in the other timeline. Of course _she_ was the only one who knew this.

The landed in the arena between Sakura and the King and Queen.

She waved. "Hey Myoga! How are you?"

Right on cue he replied, "I'm doing great, little Sakura. And I have to say, that poultice you recommended or rather _had_ recommended, has done wonders for the old wings."

Her grin widened at the astonished looks on the Birds faces. They sure hadn't seen this familiar greeting coming.

"Do you know the girl, Myoga?"

"Of course, your Majesty. She is good friend from the past. Or rather the future. Both actually."

The old Owl spoke the sentence as if it made perfect sense. Sakura knew he just enjoyed confusing others and increasing the rumors that he was mad.

"Speak clearly, Myoga. We have no patience for this. The girl bears the Mark of Saheeb, a mark that can only be given by the king. And I do not remember seeing this girl."

Before Myoga could open his beak, Sakura stepped in. "I'm from the future. At least I think so."

"You are, dear girl. Your friend sent you here purposely." Myoga assured her.

"Good, I wasn't sure if Sasuke 's sharingan was involved and I was in some kind of amazingly detailed illusion or not."

The King ruffled his feathers impatiently. "Explain, Myoga."

"My mother is coming home soon, so I'll leave you to explain things, Myoga." Sakura grabbed the backpack she had thrown down on the ground earlier.

Tsubasa turned his toward her. "You will go nowhere until your presence has been explained."

"Do not worry, old friend. She means no harm and is a great asset to our people."

"Myoga-."

"Tsubasa. I have seen her and I know her heart. Leave her be. You will receive your answers."

The King paused. "Very well."

"Good. And Sakura before you end up somewhere else, here."

Myoga threw the summoning contract for the Birds.

Ignoring the horrified whispering of the Birds (they'd get over it after Myoga explained everything), she caught it then deftly signed it with her blood before sealing it away.

"Thanks, Myoga." Forming the hand-signs required, she appeared back in her room.

Putting the large sweater back in her closet she placed the glass of water in the kitchen and crawled back into bed.

Sakura had a long day ahead of her tomorrow and she didn't have to worry about being caught in a genjutsu. She went to sleep with a smile on her face.

_I am really really sorry for those few who have showed interest in my pathetic story. Like I said on my profile, I update sporadically and I haven't had time to write anything for while. This means I winged this chapter. I just rushed. I have the general idea of what I want from this story but this particular chapter was written messily._

_Being the lazy-ass I am, I decided to update it anyway._

_Please tell me what you think of it._

_R&R_

_Thanks,_

_ShaSha_


	3. Chapter 3

"_Its been more than seven years since I last watched Shrek. And I'm still having trouble coping with the fact that a donkey fucked a dragon." _

* * *

Unfortunately, while she slept well, Sakura woke quite late for school the next day.

Putting on the odd quipao dress of her youth, she grabbed an apple and made sure to yell a goodbye to her mother. Sakura decided to look into finding her own apartment after the chunnin exams.

It would be hard for her mother to understand, but Sakura was, in reality, a grown woman. Not only would it be easier on her mother (because of her ninja status, she could be called on a mission at any given moment and so came in at odd times) but it would also easier to take care of her boys as well.

All of them, from Naruto to Kakashi, had always hated the hospital so she had become their personal healer.

She still planned on being a medic nin because how could she not? Her entire style was based on and around medical ninjutsu. But she'd probably put a lot more effort on her Taijutsu. Her monster strength mixed with excellent taijutsu would be deadly force.

She grinned. She planned to be _kick-ass _earlier this time around. No more fainting and squealing girlishly for her anymore.

As she turned to the road that led to the academy, her heart pounded and her stomach lurched uncomfortably. How would she do this? Was she ready to face her much younger, much more innocent and much more alive comrades?

Her heart nearly stopped as the door to a very familiar flower shop opened and an equally familiar blonde stepped out.

"Ino!" Sakura immediately covered her mouth. She hadn't meant for that to slip out.

Ino turned towards her.

"Fore-head. What are you yelling about? And don't bother bringing any attention to yourself, your large fore-head already does that."

Sakura stopped, taken aback. What was up with Ino's attitude? That was completely uncalled for.

Then she remembered the ridiculous rivalry they'd had when they were younger.

Well, she was going to rid such ridiculous thoughts from Ino's mind.

Honestly, the idea of fawning over Sasuke after everything was the most far-fetched idea she'd ever heard. She'd rather go back and face Tsunade on that day when Sakura and Naruto had hidden all of the woman's booze.

She smiled slightly. Naruto had been sure that they were going to die that day.

Shaking her head from her thoughts, she faced Ino who was eying her oddly.

"Hey, Fore-head, you alright?"

"Er- yes, Ino. Listen. I've been thinking. We're going to be kunoichis soon and we're going to be in danger constantly. It was really silly to give up our friendship over a boy and I want us to be friends again."

Ino eyed her distrustfully. "How do I know this isn't a plan to take Sasuke from me."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Oh, for God's sake, Ino. I give up on Sasuke! You can have him and his millions of Uchiha babies."

There was no way she was becoming a housewife like she'd wanted to be when she was younger.

After all the danger and excitement she'd gone through the idea of doing as mundane as that was... horrifyingly boring.

She was taken from her thoughts by Ino throwing herself onto her in a hug.

"Ino?"

"Oh, Sakura. I thought I'd never hear say that. Now that you've admitted I'm superior to you-"

"Woah! Superior to _me_. As if. I'm going to be the best shinobi there ever was."

Ino would go into the shinobi business. There was no question about it. She was from a major clan in Konoha and clan heiress at that.

But if Sakura somehow directed their old rivalry into something more productive, then Ino would feel the urge to improve her ninja skills and thus wouldn't die as young as she did before.

"Hell no! I'm going to be the best shinobi, Fore-head. And when that day comes, you better admit my superiority."

"Yeah, yeah sure."

"Why are you saying that so nonchalantly?!"

"Race you to the academy!"

"Fore-head, you cheater! Get back here! You started before me!"

(^_^) (^_^) (^_^) (^_^) (^_^) (^_^)

Apparently, according to the date on the board, she _hadn't_ come on the day of team selections. Rather, a few weeks before it.

Ah, well. This worked out to her advantage. She could work on her taijutsu and by volunteering at the hospital now she could show off a small bit of her healing skills with that excuse.

Sakura and Ino had arrived a little early and much to Ino's delight, Sakura's pleasure, and Sasuke's horror, Sasuke had been the only other one in the class.

Sakura had pleasantly spent the last few minutes watching as an irritated Sasuke attempted to shake an eager Ino off him.

Yes, this was pure entertainment.

After a few more minutes, she decided to take a nap. Might as well sleep when ever she could.

Though her younger body didn't need any sleep, her mind still though that she hadn't slept well in weeks.

It was a bit like psychosomatic pain, a type of pain that was imagined by the brain and was also called phantom pains.

Except her mind was thinking her body was tired because, just a day ago it _was_ tired.

Students suddenly began arriving, bringing with them their loud voices and clunking footsteps.

She still couldn't be bothered to lift her head up.

Then suddenly a loud, familiar voice addressed her. "Sakura-chan! Can I sit next to you? Please? I want bother you."

She immediately sat up. Naruto!

"Of course, Naruto."

Sakura couldn't help herself as she beamed at him. Her brother in everything but blood was here. He was her own little pocket of sunshine.

"Really?" He seemed shocked and hesitant.

God, she'd been a real bitch back then. Of course no one had been kind to Naruto during this time period. But still, they had no excuse.

She smiled warmly. "Your always welcome to sit next to me, Naruto."

It wasn't until he face had turned bright red as he sat next to her did she remember his crush on her.

She'd have to build Hinata's confidence up, give a few well-needed kicks to Naruto's ass and introduce the two. Sakura knew for a fact that the two had been a beautiful couple.

And until then she'd just let Naruto know that he was her brother and she his sister.

* * *

_Hello,_

_Sorry for those who are reading this. I'm juggling this story and __Life As Hermione__ simultaneously and its hard to find time for both. This story is probably going to be a slow going so it'll take a while to finish. _

_Please review and tell me your thoughts!_

_Thanks,_

_ShaSha_


	4. Chapter 4

I've realized that I haven't been putting my disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

"_Giving gum to a friend at school is like doing a drug deal. You didn't hear anything, see anything and you definitely didn't get it from me."_

* * *

Contrary to popular belief medical ninjutsu was not as easy as many assumed. Which was why until Tsunade Senju came along there were not a lot of medical advancements.

To be good medic-nins you needed excellent chakra control and extensive knowledge of how the body functioned.

You didn't just assume because you had good chakra control you were, by default, a medical-nin. Without prior knowledge an untrained healer would kill their patient easily.

Because medic ninjutsu took years to master, true masters like Tsunade weren't that common. As it was once Tsunade had left Konoha. medical advancements and improvements had come to stagnant halt.

Sakura planned to revolutionize the medical world. And maybe make a bit of cash on the side.

Which was why she was now wandering the upper-class area of Konoha. The upper-class area was where the rich merchants, nobility, and the occasional ninja clan like the Hyuuga lived.

She was here to see the daughter of a rich upper-class family of traders. Kasumi Nishimura would be six years old currently. The last time Sakura had seen her was when she was eight.

The child had suffered of lung cancer at a young age and by the time she was eight, she was at death's doorstep.

Sakura had cured her within a week, with only a few sessions and treatments.

The act had endeared her to the Nishimura family and had gained her many allies from the civilian factor as well.

If she planned on taking Danzo down she would need as many politically-inclined allies as she could get.

Approaching the large, gated manor, she nodded politely at the guards.

"I'm here to see Nishimura-san, please."

Eying her curiously (_what business would a little girl have here?_), one of the guards ushered her in.

Sitting down on the plush seats of the foyer, Sakura waited.

Soon a maid beckoned her towards what Sakura knew was Nishimura Sanosuke's office.

The large, intimidating man towered over even when he was sitting and if Sakura hadn't been a capable ninja she would have been worried about being left alone with him.

As it was, if she wanted to she could crush him easily.

"Exactly what business do you have here, child."

"Nishimura-san, I would like to make a bargain of sorts with you."

He raised an eyebrow, looking amused.

Sakura really wanted to punch his face in but she could understand where he was coming from.

A twelve year old girl making business bargain with one of Konoha's most influential traders and leader in the civilian factor of the council.

Laughable.

"What sort of... _bargain_?" He spoke as if he was just humoring her.

"If you give me 100,000 yen, I will cure your daughter. And by cure I mean completely get rid of her illness and restore her to full health."

He eyed her, the humor gone from his face.

"Let me get this straight. You want me to trust a twelve year old child with my daughters safety when healers older and more experienced than you couldn't do anything?"

"I understand your concern but I assure you, I am an excellent healer and not only that I am charging you much less than what a normal healer would charge. You've got nothing to lose here. A good deal and if I don't make good on my part then you have every right to take your money and kick me out. I _know _I can heal her."

Sakura was playing on his weakness here. The man cared about his daughter and wanted her to be better and she was dangling an excellent deal right in front of him. No self-proclaimed business man would deny that.

Suddenly the man stood up, startling Sakura.

He beckoned her over.

"I will allow you to examine her. Make what you will of the illness. Rest assured that if harm befalls her, I will not stop until I get my revenge."

Sakura sweatdropped. Why the dramatic proclamations?

Nonetheless, she followed him out the office, down the hall and into a pretty bedroom clearly designed for a young female child.

On the large bed, a small figure laid completely still, swallowed by the blankets on top of her.

"Papa? Is that you?"

The small little figure struggled to sit up and a maid immediately rushed over to help.

"Be careful Kasumi. Do not strain yourself." Nishimura-san's voice was full of concern as he gazed down at his daughter.

Sakura decided this would be the best time to step in.

"Hello. Kasumi-san right?"

The little girl nodded.

She hid slightly behind her father, glancing shyly at Sakura every so often.

"My name is Sakura and I'm here to make you feel better, OK?"

Gesturing for Nishimura-san to move near the door, Sakura settled down next to the child.

"Sa-Sakura-san?"

"Yes?"

"Are you sure you can help me?"

Sakura smiled at the young girl. "I'm absolutely positive."

Placing the empty vials she brought with her, Sakura turned toward the little girl.

"OK. I'm just going to check on how far along your illness is."

Once the child laid down and slipped off her shirt, Sakura prepared her chakra scalpel.

"I'm going to put you to sleep for a little bit, OK sweetie?"

The child nodded as if she was used to such procedures. And Sakura knew she was.

If Sakura recalled correctly, before she had healed Kasumi, the Nishimuras had been fooled and conned by many not-so-well-meaning healers.

As the girl was put to sleep, Sakura made a perfect, barely there incision with her chakra scalpel, sending her chakra towards the girl's lungs.

Examining the girl's lungs closely, she made note of important factors.

It seemed the diseases wasn't that far ahead as it had been last time. No, only a small patch of her right lung was infected by cancerous cells but they would most likely multiply again and again, forming more tumors, before ultimately killing the girl.

She could easily heal it at this stage. Directing her chakra toward the patch of rapidly multiplying cancer cells, she easily covered the patch, isolating it from the rest of the lungs. The cancerous cells would be unable to affect the rest of the lungs this way.

The next few steps were very precise. It wasn't an overly difficult procedure (as long as you had perfect chakra control) but it required immense concentration and precision.

She would have to destroy the cells completely then form new ones for the lung. First she had to have a sample of the healthy cells in order to replicate the cells perfectly so the Kasumi's body wouldn't reject it.

Using her chakra, she took a few samples from the healthy part of Kasumi's lungs.

Keeping her chakra isolating the cancerous cells, she retracted her hands and opened her eyes.

She made sure to place the sample in a container so that she could examine them later.

She stretched her back before standing up and facing Kasumi's father.

"Nishimura-san. I will have to come back one more time in order to fully heal her."

He frowned at her. "I thought you said you would heal her."

Sakura held up her hands in a placating manner.

"Yes, but you daughter has cancer. I need to replace the cells that have been affected with new ones and I need to examine Kasumi's healthy cells so that I can replicate the cells perfectly. It'll just take a few hours."

He nodded. "Do you need anything else?"

"Actually now that you mention it..."

(^_^) (^_^) (^_^) (^_^) (^_^) (^_^)

After a few hours of examining Kasumi's healthy cells and painstakingly replicating them in Nishimura-san's office, Sakura was ready to completely heal the little girl.

Heading toward the room, she put Kasumi back to sleep and made a new incision exactly where the old one had been.

Sending her chakra back again, she observed the isolated area. The malignant cells were multiplying quickly and were trying to push past her chakra boundary to no avail.

Sakura sent a quick burst of chakra completely destroying the cells before immediately healing that area with new healthy cells.

Taking a minute to observe her handiwork, Sakura noted that the lungs looked very healthy. Not a cancer cell to be seen.

She pulled back and nodded at Nishimura. "All done. She's perfectly healthy now. I advise you to continue to feed her healthy nutritious food and make sure she gets her exercise. She should be up and playing by the end of the week."

Packing her meager medical supplies, she turned back to Nishimura. "I'll be back in a week to check her progress and to collect my money."

The large man stood up and nodded.

"If this works you will be paid greatly, I promise you that."

"Don't worry. It will."

Sakura left the huge manor in a good mood, a little extra money in her pocket, and a feeling of accomplishment.

Now she just needed to do one more thing before heading home.

(^_^) (^_^) (^_^) (^_^) (^_^) (^_^)

Sakura knew Naruto like the back of her hand.

She knew he liked orange because the color was bright, flashy and attention catching.

She knew he resorted to pranks when he was younger because he wanted _some_ kind of attention whether it was good or bad.

She also knew that once he considered you his friend, you were his friend for life.

And last of all she knew that while he did love ramen, he mostly ate it when he was younger because he couldn't get anything better. Either because of the discrimination of vendors or because he couldn't afford it.

Which was why she was now standing in front of his apartment door with two bags of groceries in each hand.

Placing the bags in her right hand down, Sakura knocked a few times before waiting.

Before long Naruto opened the door.

"Sa-Sakura-chan? What are you doing here?"

She elbowed past him into his home. "Making dinner for the two of us."

Naruto followed her into the kitchen, scratching his head in a confused manner

"But why?"

She began placing the items she'd need to make fried rice on the counter and the items she didn't need in the fridge or cupboards.

"Because we're friends, Naruto."

She reached out to place the sugar in a cabinet next to the fridge.

Unnerved by the silence that was Naruto, Sakura turned just in time to see Naruto wiping something off his face.

"Naruto? Are you OK?"

She approached him worriedly.

"Naruto?"

He looked up at her, his large blue eyes glistening with unshed tears.

"A-are we friends, Sakura-chan?"

_Oh, Naruto._

"Of course we are Naruto. We-"

She was cut off by the blonde boy throwing himself on her in a hug.

"Na-Naruto!? What's wrong?"

"Nothing, Sakura-chan. I'm just happy, you know. I didn't know we were friends. I've never had one before."

Sakura hugged him back. "Well, I'm your friend now for better or for worse."

He nodded, pulling back to wipe away his tears.

"Go clean up Naruto. I'll start dinner."

"OK. But Sakura-chan won't your mom be worried about you?"

"No, I told her I'd be out the entire day."

Sakura turned towards the kitchen again. She had some delicious fried rice to make for herself and her best friend.

"Hey, Sakura-chan how do you know where everything is?"

Sakura sweatdropped.

* * *

Hey! I'm back!

Remember to tell me what you think so far.

Thanks,

ShaSha


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